Here we go! It’s April already, 2018 and we’re making tracks again. Hope you can come along for the ride.

Last week we devoted ourselves to tying up loose ends and finalizing the planning for this trip. The route we will travel is pretty much planned, we know where we’ll be stopping for nights and for sights and have lists of bike trips, hiking, museum-ing, learning and visiting goals.

Our 2017 traveling, taught me (Liz) something about food storage and I hope to have implemented enough changes that we won’t have to shop quite as often. For instance, we eat tons of veggies and fruits. The little bins at the bottom of our Norcold fridge proved to be inadequate. I got a couple of plastic boxes that fit the shelf above the little bins and they are now filled with the overflow produce we will eat this week. I also froze some favorite foods we won’t find once we leave the South (Gulf Shrimp, for sure!).

We will be holding a north-easterly heading all the way to the Catskills in New York. First big camp, the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. We hope the weather holds and it isn’t too cold up there. In fact, that’s my wish for this whole trip – that it not be too cold. Even where we live, it has been a long cold spring.

Barb and I have a Fly Fishing class – 6 days – in the Catskills in upper New York State in early May. We are both looking forward to learning more and getting in some practice in the storied waters that hosted the very start of the sport. The class is one of Road Scholar’s offerings, Elderhostel’s new brand. RS caters to traveling learners who are over 50 years old.

Last spring, we went to RS Summer Camp. It was held in Arkansas at Trout Lodge, a beautiful YMCA camp on a lake. Did we have fun! It was so much like camp when I was a girl, there were kids everywhere – all thoroughly engaged in the activities du jour, laughter and kids shouts from the lake or the trails across the conifer shrouded hills. It was fabulous. We over-50 campers enjoyed canoeing, kayaking, sailing, hiking, zip-lining, tower climbing, target shooting, crafts, horseback riding and a locked room challenge; seriously it was the best camp experience ever!

Today we camp in Georgia at an Army Corps of Engineers campground in West Point, Georgia. We both look forward to a walk on whatever trails or roads the campground offers, to shake off the road – if we get there in time.

I feel right at home as we take the exit from 85, this is the same exit we took around St. Patrick’s Day to spend a long weekend at a (very expensive) RV Park with the Heart of Dixie Chapter of RVing Women. We visited Calloway Gardens and Roosevelt’s Little White House and met some really nice gals. Franklin Roosevelt loved this part of Georgia and came here for healing waters treatment. We agree with him, this is a gorgeous part of the US!

Back to the present though. R. Shaefer Heard Army Corps of Engineers Campground is on West Point Lake – technically the West Point Project water resource management area. This campground is an easy 6 or so miles off I-85 N.

What a place – waterfront property today for these girls! The entire door side of the RV faces the water, we have a deck and stairs leading to the water where we could tie our boat up to a tree.

The campground is really large, 117 sites and all are reservable. On our walk, we found many campsites clustered together for families and groups. Eleven pull-through sites (one of which we occupy) make it easy for folks who are passing through or aren’t good at backing into sites. Most of the campsites are right on the lake, many are surrounded by trees and bushes that make them very private. This month, the campground isn’t full at all. One thing to note; there appears to be one shower building but most of the small tan buildings hold sinks and toilets.

After the hot drive on 65 and 85, fresh breezes coming off the lake are welcome. The campsite is busy with Yellow-Rumped Warblers, Palm Warblers, Chickadees, Eastern Bluebirds and Carolina Wrens. We hear a woodpecker working for dinner and the shushing of the tiny red waves rushing toward our shore. Red waves because this is Georgia, red dirt reigns.

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Leaving the lake side window shades up all night afforded us a rare treat, a view of the lake as we woke with the light. Lake water moves in a most mesmerizing fashion, she says after falling back to sleep.

Another thing learned; long drives are exhausting. We decided to drive shorter distances and spend more of each day out of the RV during this eastern US sojourn.

The plan is to make a short trip (under 3.5 hours driving) to the next overnight.  We’re zooming along on 985 N right now. Barb just suggested we keep going for another hour to Black Rock State Park closer to the Smokeys… I’ll let you know how the longer drive today meets out goal to drive shorter distances.

We’re glad to be traveling again.  Please leave comments for us and don’t forget to hit the follow button!

Breathe.